Chaining of a Curse
by brindani
Summary: Ukyo meets Ranma as he first arrives in town, inevitably leading to changes. The real question though is this: Something odd is happening to Ranma’s curse, but what? A RanmaxUkyo fic
1. Fiancées galore

Author's note: I've been searching high and low on this website and was very disappointed that there were hardly any Ranma/Ukyo fics out there. As I believe it is these two that should have gotten together from the very beginning, I decided to make my own fiction staring them.

There may be some grammatical and spelling errors as currently there is no one who is pre-reading this. On that note, if someone would like to help me pre-read for grammar/spelling or content just send me an e-mail which can be found on my author's page.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the characters in Ranma ½ or the ideas it contains; this is just for fun.

**Chaining of a Curse**

By: brindani

**Chapter 1**

On a worn dirt path, barely able to hold the various carts bustling along its length, traveled two very unusual people. It wasn't the hefty packs each carried that set them apart, though those received quite a few stares from people passing by. No, what made these two unusual had nothing to do with their present appearance.

The older of the two absently muttered to himself as he lightly rubbed his irritable overgrown belly, paying more attention to it than what was going on around him. His name was Genma and, as usual, he wore a faded training gi with a headband covering his head. The other person traveling beside him was a very unhappy young man in a red Chinese style silk shirt with black Kung Fu training pants. This person went by the name of Ranma.

The reason for Ranma's unhappiness was easily identifiable from the nearly constant stream of complaints rising from his midsection. It is unfortunate that such things happen when food is neglected for over three days.

"Pops," Ranma mumbled for the sixth time that hour.

"Mmmm," The small grunt being the only indication that Genma was aware that Ranma had spoken.

"Remind me to beat the livin' tar out of you when we get to this friend of yours. How could you be so stupid, stealing from that last town? If you had left well enough alone, those people would have given us some food and we wouldn't be starving right now." Ranma, becoming more agitated as he thought about that particular incident, raised his fist to show the old man just what he thought of the theft in question. At least, that was the idea, but an especially large growl forced his hand back down to his own aching stomach. "I'll give you a good beating just as soon as I can get some food," he stated longingly.

"Yeah," Genma replied; as food was the only thing currently running though his mind, he hadn't heard a thing his son had said other then the words '…get some food.'

Still rubbing his aching tummy, Ranma's nose picked up a tantalizing scent. "What is that wonderful smell?" Ranma asked.

Genma could only nod as he unabashedly slobbered down the side of his cheek, sending people close enough to see scurrying away from the disturbing sight. Both turned their heads this way and that, glancing franticly around. Finally, they spied the object of their stomachs' desire. Some hundred meters ahead stood a small, well-worn, wooden cart making okonomiyaki.

"Food," Genma muttered turning to where Ranma once stood. Finding himself facing a dust cloud in the vague shape of Ranma, he looked back to see the boy already in front of the little cart placing an order very enthusiastically. "Hey! Wait for me, boy." Milliseconds later, Genma stood next to his son trying to talk over Ranma to get his own order in.

"Here you go, sugar, one special with squid to go." Ranma salivated as he brought his hands closer to the first food he had had in ages… only to find that it abruptly disappeared before his eyes. He looked up to see his father had snatching his meal once again. Genma didn't manage to get the food far before Ranma bopped him over the head and took back his portion.

"Ranma! It is a martial artist's duty to give to others in need before thinking of themselves," Genma said while pointing his finger theatrically at Ranma.

"Ranma? Do you mean Ranma Saotome?" asked the person behind the stand as they stopped in the middle of making Genma's meal. Her intent expression would have unnerved the steeliest of people, but the food-starved mind of Genma did not notice, rather he took advantage of the distraction by steeling Ranma's food.

Ranma, on the other hand, was slightly more perceptive. It had become a necessity after running for his life so many times in the past. "Ya, that's me," he said wearily.

Apparently it was the wrong thing to say. The girl unlatched a large spatula from her back and proceeded to stock Ranma around the cart. "Uh, is something wrong?" he asked confused by the person's actions.

"Wrong? Wrong?! You better believe something is wrong. It's all thanks to you that my life has been ruined!" the youth said through gritted teeth.

"Wait, how could I have ruined your life? I don't even know you." Ranma said while backing away, confident he could handle the situation, yet cautious at the same time.

"Does the name Ukyo sound familiar?" The other retorted viciously.

"Ukyo?" Ranma's brow drew down as he thought deeply for sever seconds until something clicked in the back of his mind. "You mean okonomiyaki Ukyo?" Taking a good look at the person before him, he realized that the other did look like an older version of the friend that he had once known. "My god, it's been awhile," Ranma said with a bright smile lightning his features at seeing an old friend once again.

"Awhile my ass. You ruined my life!" With that, the youth dove at Ranma with a powerful downward thrust from her spatula.

"Hold on a sec. What I do?" Ranma asked as he casually sidestepped the strike.

"You idiot, you abandoned me on the road."

"Abandoned you? We were good friends and all, but why would you want to come with, Ukyo." Ranma replied obviously confused by his once good friend's actions.

"What? You mean you don't know?"

"Know what? All I remember is…" Ranma briefly paused trying to remember just what had happened back then. "…Oh yeah, your father gave us your cart as a farewell gift."

"And that doesn't strike you as a little odd?" Ukyo mumbled darkly.

Briefly Ranma pondered that statement. 'True, it doesn't make sense for someone to give us their family cart as a going away present. That means…' Ranma frowned as he realized his father had done it again. "Pops, you idiot, you stole their family cart. How could you do that to one of my friends?" Ranma demanded as he turned around to look at his father. Genma, on the other hand, was busy scarfing down the rest of Ranma's okonomiyaki and what was left grilling of his own so he never noticed the discussion going on right behind him.

Ukyo wasn't glaring at Genma so much as she was looking oddly at Ranma. 'Wait a minute, Ranma didn't know? He is acting as if his father just stole the cart. Maybe…'

Genma's attention quickly shifted as he found himself punted into a nearby tree.

"What? Why'd you do that, boy?" Genma asked, peeved that his voracious eating was disturbed.

"Haven't heard a word I've said, have you old man? You stole Ukyo's family cart and told me it was a gift. How could you sink so low?"

At the mention of Ukyo and the visual confirmation of the person standing several paces behind Ranma, Genma's eyes flared with fear. 'Not now! We are so close. Got to get the boy out of here before he finds out.' With that, Genma jumped down from the tree and charged at Ranma full speed, intending to knock him out with a swift kick to the head. He never noticed the spatula arcing towards his face.

Crack.

Genma was out like a light.

"Nice one, Ukyo." Ranma complemented.

"Well, he did leave me behind."

"In speaking of which, you never explained why you would have wanted to come with us?" Ranma asked curiously as he turned to face her again.

Finally realizing that Ranma truly didn't know, she decided to explain. "You see, you and I where engaged to be married by our fathers. The cart was actually my dowry."

Ranma's features turned down "Dowry? That doesn't make any sense. Why would there be a dowry when we are both guys?"

Ukyo's eyes became a glare aimed directly at Ranma. "I'm a girl you idiot!"

Ranma blinked and for the first time in years looked at Ukyo in more detail. He instantly noticed several distinctive features such as the hour glass figure and the distortion around the chest that hinted at some fairly good endowments. '_Wow_, Ukyo really _is_ a girl.' Ranma's roaming eyes finally made their way up to meet Ukyo's who continued to give him a death glare.

"You're right, you are most definitely a girl, and a cute one at that," Ranma frowned, he hadn't expected to say that observation out loud, but it was too late now. The comment did cause Ukyo to glance away to hide a small blush at Ranma's complement. "Anyway, could you tell me exactly what happened back then? Pops obviously left out quite a bit of detail."

Glad for the distraction Ukyo continue to explain the specifics of the deal made so long ago in the past. By the end of her explanation, Ranma was shooting a death glare at Genma that had the old man shaking even though he was unconscious. Giving the old man a swift kick to the gut Ranma turned back to Ukyo.

"I'm sorry this stupid idiot caused you so many problems. I don't know about all this fiancée business, but I will find some way to make this up to you, ok Ukyo?" Ranma said, regretting how his father had once again managed to mess up someone else's life.

Ukyo became flustered by Ranma's sincerity. 'Maybe things can work out yet,' she thought.

* * *

"Ouch, gwaf, that hurt!" came the muted sounds from Genma as he was bodily dragged behind Ranma while Ukyo pulled her cart at his side.

For Genma's part, he wasn't sure, but if he didn't know better he would have thought that the boy went out of his way to hit every large rock in the road. "Ouch!" Or maybe he was.

"So where are you guys heading?" Ukyo asked curiously.

"Some friend of pops named Soun Tendo. He said we were doing something important there."

"I see. Oh damn. It looks like it's going to rain." Ukyo said as she took spied several heavy storm clouds heading their way.

"Oh no." Moaned Ranma.

"What's wrong, honey? It's only a little sprinkle."

"Um, well, I have a curse." Ranma said in a low mutter.

"A curse. Ha ha, I don't believe in things like that," Ukyo replied casually.

"Well you're about to see one in just a second," he said, eyeing the thin curtain of rain heading in their direction.

"Hmm?" Ukyo murmured as she huddled under the small hood provided by her cart. When she didn't hear anything from the boy behind her, she looked back. She didn't find what she expected. Instead of Ranma, there was a redheaded girl dragging a full grown panda. "What the hell!?" Ukyo exclaimed at the unanticipated sight.

"Do you believe me about that curse now?" the redhead asked her.

"Ranma?" Ukyo asked tentatively.

"Yeah, it's a long story."

* * *

Ukyo's mouth absently hung open as they entered the Nerima ward of Tokyo. She was still stunned by Ranma's story. There weren't supposed to be curses in this modern day of technology. She was so engrossed by her thoughts that she barely even realized what building they were currently passing. 

"Hey, this is my okonomiyaki restaurant," she said gesturing to a small building with the sign "Ucchan's" on front.

"Wow, nice place ya got here," Ranma mentioned as he helped Ukyo bring in her cart and store it in the back room of the restaurant.

"Thanks. Come by any time." Ukyo mentioned, giving an almost suggestive look towards her fiancé while handing him a cup full of warm water.

Oblivious as ever when his life wasn't threatened, Ranma shrugged while pouring the water over his head; his features slowly changing back to male. "Look, Ukyo, would you like to come with me and Pops to his friend's place? It might not be so bad if you're there."

Ukyo beamed at him, already feeling comfortable around him even though they had just been reunited only a few hours ago. "Sure, just let me get changed out of these wet clothes and we can go."

At Ukyo's answer, Genma started to violently thrash against the ropes binding him. Ranma didn't take much notice, even when the panda wannabe knocked himself out by hitting his head on a nearby counter.

No, Ranma's attention was focused on looking around the small shop with its varied equipment neatly organized for easy access. In particular, he found the counter length grill to be rather interesting. He was so intent on his survey that he never actively noticed Ukyo lightly walking down the stairs.

"Took me awhile to find something clean to wear." She mentioned while gesturing to herself. "This was the only thing left." Ranma swiveled around to look behind him. He opened and closed his eyes a few times while he took in the newly revealed Ukyo wearing what appeared to be her school uniform. The pale blue skirt really accented the curves that were previously only hinted at. She still wore her giant spatula behind her, but it only seemed to enhance her firm feminine figure. Ranma furiously shook his head to dislodge the unusual ideas that suddenly played through his mind.

"It… looks good on you, Ukyo." Ranma commented before quickly turning to retrieve the rope still attached to his father, hoping that the blush growing on his cheeks wouldn't be noticed. Ukyo's heart skipped a beat at the unexpected complement.

* * *

Standing in front of the Tendo household, Ranma was a little peeved. The reason behind his annoyance was that the elements seemed bound and determined to activate his curse again. It was a light sprinkle, barely lasting a few seconds, yet sufficient to instantly change him back to his girl form. He had hoped that just once he would be able to meet someone while remaining his natural gender. 

Awhile ago, his father, now panda, had woken up. Seeing as they were going to meet his father's friend, Ranma decided to be lenient and allow him to walk - in front of course, so that both he and Ukyo could keep a watchful eye on the deceptive character.

Finally, they stood before a large wooden door. Ranma pushed past the front gate and made his way firmly up to the family house before knocking on the front door.

He was a little startled when, moments later, the door burst open to reveal a middle-aged man in a light brown kimono with shoulder length black hair and a teenaged girl who stood slightly behind him in a more formal pink kimono with short brown hair.

"Genma my old friend…" The man stated before realizing that the party in front of him did not contain his old friend, but rather two wet girls and a rugged giant panda.

Seeing the man's confusion and that they were now protected from the light drizzle by the overhanging roof, Ranma upended a thermos of hot water over the panda, instantly changing him to his normal form.

In front of Soun now stood a very wet Genma who opened his mouth to speak before closing it again. "Why don't we discuss this inside?" Genma replied finally.

Ashamed at momentarily forgetting his manners, Soun moved to rectify the situation. "Yes, of course, Nabiki, please show our guests in." He said while moving to the side and gesturing them to enter.

Everyone moved to follow the girl named Nabiki who had short brown hair. She led the group to the front dinning room where her two sisters remained sitting. The one with long brown hair gave the new guests a friendly if hesitant smile while the other, whose hair was a dark shade of blue, simply stared at them with resentment. Soun had just told them of the engagement and neither was too happy about the prospect for various reasons.

Ranma looked warily at the younger girl, figuring that the resentment coming from her felt like a bad sign. Everyone sat down, with Soun at the head of the table. "So what is this all about, Genma?" he asked quietly, though there was a hint of curiosity.

Genma looked down for a second before looking up at Kasumi. "Could you please fetch some hot water for us?"

Rather confused by the odd request, but still the ever polite hostess, Kasumi stood to retrieve the hot water. She returned quickly with a kettle of boiling water she had started for tea before the visitors had arrived.

Genma took the kettle with a small grimace before dashing its contents at Ranma. Ranma, caught unaware, found himself both male and covered in scalding water.

"AAAHHHH!!. What did you do that for, you old man!?" Ranma asked as he jumped around. Ukyo's hand rose dangerously close to her spatula, but didn't do anything to interfere… yet. Ranma cooled off slightly after a full minute of hoping around only to reluctantly settle down while maintaining a major death glare aimed squarely at his father.

"Be quiet, boy! You need to learn to take it like a man." Genma then directed his attention to the house's other occupants, who were staring stunned at the black pigtailed boy that had once been a very busty red pigtailed girl, to start his explanation of the Jusenkyo curses.

It didn't take long before Soun was crying at the predicament his long time friend had found himself in. Startling Ranma, Soun's tears ceased in an instant just before he grabbed his shoulders.

"Your situation is not so bad. Here, this is my daughter Kasumi, she's nineteen, my daughter Nabiki, seventeen, and my youngest Akane, sixteen. Pick any one of them to be your new fiancée."

At this last bit of information both Ranma and Ukyo froze up. "Fiancée?" Ranma asked.

"Certainly, they are all good girls that would make you an excellent wife," Soun said, misunderstanding what Ranma meant by his question. Meanwhile Ranma gave the girls a cursory glance. He shuddered at what he saw. Kasumi seemed to be all right though he could tell from her eyes that she was holding all of her emotions within. Nabiki was eyeing him like she was eyeing like a slab of meat to be sold. The final daughter, Akane, was staring at him with a mixture of disgust and hatred. Something about the gaze made him feel that if he ever dared do anything she felt was wrong, she would personally kill him a.k.a. one big mallet to the head.

Ukyo, on the other hand, looked incredulously at Soun. The feeling of disbelief soon turned into raw anger. She had just found out _her_ Ran-chan hadn't left her behind and now this jackass tries to push these other fiancées off on him. From the dumbfound look on Ranma's face, Ukyo could tell that this was one more thing that Ranma had no clue about. Glancing over at Genma confirmed her suspicions when he continued to nod in agreement with Soun.

"Now wait just a minute," Ukyo said as she stood up, quickly drawing everyone's attention. "You can't serious. Just because you two decided along time ago doesn't give you the right to force Ranma to marry someone. He should have a say in the matter." By the end of Ukyo's speech, Ranma was looking at her in a startled yet considering manner, the three Tendo daughters were in total agreement as they didn't want anything to do with the whole messy affair either. The fathers, on the other hand, were looking furiously at Ukyo.

"This matter does not concern you. I think that it is time that you left." Soun said with a deep frown.

Ukyo was about to speak again, but felt a hand grasp her shoulder. Turning she saw Ranma bend down to whisper in her ear. "Thanks Ucchan, but I'll take care of this. You should start heading back home."

Ukyo froze at the unexpected contact in addition to the words that followed. With only a small push towards the front door from Ranma, Ukyo reluctantly left with Kasumi leading the way.

When Ranma saw that Ukyo was out of the way he turned back to Soun. "How dare you treat my friend like that? She was simply tellin' the truth and you have to go and throw her out."

Soun stepped back several steps while Ranma spoke. Not wanting to anger the boy further, he chose to quickly change the subject. "In any case, we must still arrange for which will be your fiancée." He said indicating the three girls now sitting on the other side of the table.

Turning, Ranma and Soun found that the newly returned Kasumi and her sister, Nabki, had thrust Akane out to the fore.

"Father, I think Akane would be the perfect choice." Kasumi said with a small smile.

* * *

"Good-for-nothing lousy tomboy… hitting me as if I did something wrong." Ranma mumbled as he walked along a road. After Akane hit him over the head with the dinner table, he had decided to go elsewhere for the night. Fortunately, he knew of at least one place in this new town where he could go. "Ucchan's," he read from the banner brightly displayed above the entrance. He then knocked several times. 

He could hear someone sluggishly walking to the door, their steps dragging as if half asleep. "Oh my gosh, what happened to you Ran-chan?" Ukyo asked as she slid the door to the side to reveal Ranma with a large, irritable, red lump on his head.

"That girl, Akane, hit me on the head with a table. Stupid tomboy." He grumbled.

"What did she do that for?" Ukyo asked confused about how someone could be so brutal.

"I didn't do anything. I just said I ain't got time for none of this fiancée business and that she was uncute to boot."

"Well, that last part was probably uncalled for, but I will admit that she did go a little overboard. So what are you doing here?" she asked, a little uncertainty in her voice.

"Well, I was kinda hoping that I could like maybe stay here tonight." Ukyo paled at the thought. "I wouldn't try nothin', honest." Ranma finished after seeing her reaction.

"Ooo…k, but I really don't feel comfortable about this." For a moment Ukyo put a finger to her chin considering the options before an idea came to her. "Could you change into a girl for the night?" Ukyo asked.

Now Ranma began to sweat bullets. He didn't like being a girl if he could help it. However, after seeing how Ukyo was shaken by the idea of him sleeping near her, he decided to go along.

"Okay." Putting words into action, Ranma went over to the sink and splashed himself with some cold water, instantly returning him to his girl form. "I don't much like being a girl, but if it makes you feel better, then ok."

Smiling, Ukyo gestured for Ranma to follow her upstairs. Neither noticed the set of yellow eyes staring in from a nearby window.

* * *

2:00 AM, Ukyo's residence: 

boom

jarid

Ukyo sat up, dazedly looking around trying to identify what had caused her to awaken.

Boom

'There it is again, but what is it?' Ukyo thought to herself.

BOom

'It's coming from just outside.' "Ranma, wake up. Something is happening." Ukyo shook the female Ranma, trying to wake her from a very deep slumber. "Come on Ranma, there's something wrong."

"Whaaa…Huh?" Ranma asked, severely disoriented as he tried to wake up.

BOOm.

Tired of trying to get Ranma to wake up, Ukyo simply took his arm and dragged him downstairs to the front of Ucchan's.

BOOM.

With a final explosion, the building across the street collapsed to reveal a figure that slowly walked towards them. "Ranma I kill." Came a voice from Ranma's past. In a flash, five ultra-sharp knives flew in his direction, instantly waking him up. Unfortunately, it was too late. Only a frantic swing from Ukyo's giant spatula deflected the blades away from him, but already eight more were on the way from another direction. Ranma was about to jump out of the way, but noticed that Ukyo's last swing had unwittingly put her into the path of the new set of knives.

Desperate, Ranma grabbed a hold of Ukyo, shoving her behind him only to find that he didn't have enough time to jump away. The knives where almost to him before…

Whack.

A staff struck into the ground in front of him, deflecting the knives. Dumbly, Ranma stared at the still quivering staff that had just saved his life. At the same time, he realized that his attacker, who he recognized now as Shampoo, was not intent on killing him. She was instead, looking slightly above him. When Ranma turned, he spotted a figure on the roof of Ucchan's. At first, he thought it was a mummy, but soon he realized that it was a woman; a very small old shriveled woman.

"Great-grand mother, Cologne? What you do here? Why you stop Shampoo killing Ranma?" Shampoo asked in confusion.

"I couldn't let you kill my future son-in-law, now could I?" Cologne asked with a light chuckle. This response only elicited further confusion from Shampoo. Seeing this, the old women continued. "This person…" she said while pointing at Ranma. "…has a Jusenkyo curse." With that she flipped out a thermos of hot water and dumped it on the unsuspecting girl which, after several intense seconds, morphed into a boy.

"Aiya, is now male." Shampoo stated quite stunned, never noticing Cologne's attention remain highly focused on the boy.

"Uhmm, I hate to interrupt, but what was that about being your future son-in-law?" Ranma asked the old ghoul.

She kept looking down at him for a second before replying. "By Amazon law, when an outside male defeats an Amazon, they must marry that Amazon."

At first Ranma didn't understand. He had had one hell of a day dealing with the revelation of not just one, but apparently three different fiancées now.

Shampoo was also confused until she realized that back in her village she was defeated not by a female, but rather by a male cursed to female form at the time, meaning…

Ranma suddenly found himself in the glomp from hell as Shampoo latched onto him.

"Wha…?" Ranma asked before he couldn't speak through the soft flesh he now found thrust into his face.

Fortunately for him, someone else found the situation a little intolerable. Ukyo, having regained her poise, walked up to Shampoo and slapped her across the face, literally driving her away from Ranma.

"What you doing?" Shampoo asked of the girl she had ignored previously.

"How dare you do that to Ran-chan?!" Ukyo said, barely calm enough to prevent her voice from shaking in anger.

Shampoo unsheathed several more knives. "Obstacle is for killing," she murmured low, almost to herself. Before the Amazon warrior could pull her arm back to throw them, Cologne jumped down in front of her.

"That will be enough, Shampoo." She said.

"She is obstacle, must be killed," Shampoo tried to explain.

"No, I will explain later, but you are not to harm that girl."

Shampoo shuffled her feet in a very immature fashion, pouting cutely before replying. "Ok, I not kill spatula girl… right now." She finished so that no one could hear.

"Come along Shampoo." Cologne said as she reacquired her staff and hopped down the road.

As the two moved away the two remaining people watched their departure wondering just what happened.

**End chapter 1**

Author's endnotes: The story probably seems rather slow at the moment, but it really is only the introduction to the whole story.

As mentioned above no one has really gone over this story. Because of this, it would be very helpful if reviews containing constructive criticism, comments, and/or just a good word were submitted.

Thank you for read,

brindani


	2. A noble sacrifice

Author's Notes: Not too much to say really. I really can't thank both Ayanami-chan and ranger5 enough for scouring through this chapter to raise it to a standard that I wouldn't have been able to reach on my own.

Disclaimer: As always, don't own anything dealing with Ranma or it's characters. If I did, I would have much more money to burn.

**Chaining of a Curse**

By: brindani

**Chapter 2**

"Ranma! Where are you, boy?" Genma screamed at the top of his lungs as he pounded furiously on the front entrance of Ucchan's.

Eventually, the door slid open, revealing Ukyo in a turquoise bathrobe, her eye twitching in agitation.

"What do you want, you jackass?" Ukyo shot out with a deadly glare, her hand edging towards the spatula hastily placed on her back.

"Where is Ranma? I know he's here somewhere." Whap! Genma suddenly found himself rubbing his head where it hit the street.

"What are you hollering for, old man?" female Ranma demanded fiercely, his fist shaking with annoyance at his rude awakening. He hadn't had that good of a nights rest in… a flash of a warm smile… a familiar looking red headed woman gently cradling his head, rocking back and forth … awhile.

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere. You have school today." Genma said, distracting Ranma from the brief vision with a quick jab aimed towards his stomach.

"School? Why the heck would I have school?" Ranma asked while dodging the jab, only to be caught in a throw over Genma's hip.

"Because, boy, we plan to stay here for awhile so we need to get you an education. If you hurry, Akane can show you the way," Genma answered while looking down at his son.

"Don't worry; I'll show Ran-chan how to get to class," Ukyo offered from the doorway where she watched both Ranma and Genma blur through various moves, each trying to gain an advantage over the other.

Genma, startled, turned towards Ukyo, a mistake which prevented him from seeing two petite hands grab ahold of his gi and roughly throw him through the air.

"Jeez, Pops, you're getting really weak lately," Ranma said as he patted his hands together as if just going through a tedious chore before turning back to Ukyo. "Anyway, when does this school we're supposed to go to start?"

Ukyo blinked before looking back at the clock in her store. "I'd say in about four hours. It's still four in the morning, Ranma."

Ranma shot a nasty look at the rapidly diminishing pinprick in the sky that was his father. "Damn old man… let's get back to bed."

"Sure," Ukyo replied, hiding a light blush caused by the various meanings that Ranma's statement could take.

* * *

With his hands behind his back, Ranma walked along a fence, Ukyo walking along the road below him. Every now and again, Ukyo cast curious glances towards Ranma before she decided to just ask.

"Ran-chan, what are you doing up there?"

"Balance training."

"Oh." Ukyo continued to walk, thinking about his answer. After a few paces, Ukyo turned to face Ranma once more. "Could I try too?"

Ranma paused; he had not expected Ukyo to ask something like that. Perhaps to demand that he come down and walk with her… wait maybe he was thinking about someone else. "Um, sure, hop up," he invited with a gesture of his hand.

Steeling herself, Ukyo leaped up onto the flimsy fence, only to flap her arms wildly as she lost her balance, dangerously tipping towards the canal on the other side. 'Oh no, I don't want to get wet before going to school.'

Just as quickly as it all started, Ukyo's momentum stopped. Looking down she could tell that she should still be careening downward. 'What….?' Looking back, Ukyo saw Ranma counterbalanced on the other side of the fence, keeping her from falling by one hand on her spatula.

Ranma was about to make a disparaging remark about how clumsy she was, but stopped when he saw Ukyo's face turn down in disappointment. Shifting gears, he gave a tug and easily pulled both of them upright onto the fence.

"I'm sorry Ran-chan, I guess I'm not ready for this after all."

Ranma stayed quiet for a moment as if thinking carefully about what he was going to say.

"No, you just need to practice some more. You did alright for your first time. Actually, when Pops had me try this, I fell off a few times myself."

"Thank you, Ran-chan," Ukyo said with a small smile.

"Now don't get all mushy about it," Ranma replied before getting ready to help. As he looked back on his training, Ranma realized that Genma could have taught him better if he had just thought about it for a moment. 'Then again, I guess just about anything is better then being thrown onto fence and told to walk along it.' "Let's try it again," Ranma said, turning to face Ukyo and slowly letting her go.

'And I believed I had good balance. Though I have to admit that I usually walk on things a lot wider then this fence,' Ukyo thought, when the fence shook under her steps, '…and a lot less wobbly too.' She mentally frowned as she took another semi-hesitant step forward. After two more, she almost lost her footing again, but Ranma's hand quickly found her own, steadying her once more.

"What styles does the school we are going to specialize in?" Ranma asked while walking backwards. A smile started to form as his hand had to reach out to her less and her hands slowly dropped to her side as she acclimated to the shifts in balance.

"Well, there is quite a bit of emphasis on written English," Ukyo answered as she concentrated on her next step.

"English? What do they do, fight with oversized pencils?"

"Fight? That doesn't have anything to do with school." Ukyo paused briefly to notice that Ranma, his back still turned, was heading straight for the end of the fence. "Ranma…" She continued walking while trying to warn him about the upcoming problem.

"Yes?" Ranma asked as his foot was about to step off the end. Dismissing her own precarious attempt at balance, Ukyo tried to reach out to stop Ranma from falling. In a blur of motion his arm whipped around her waist and he jumped to the brick lain wall on the opposite side of the street. "What's the matter?" he asked as he let her feet touch down again.

Ukyo could only shake her head as most of what Ranma did remained fuzzy. "Oh, nothing." 'I've got to admit, after that balance training, this brick wall is a piece of cake,' Ukyo thought while she reestablished her bearings.

"Are you sure we don't learn martial arts here?" Ranma asked, his eyes focused on something behind her. Turning around, Ukyo frowned as she watched the mayhem begin in the front school yard. From their vantage point, they could see a large group of boys being hammered by a compact blue blur.

After a moment Ukyo gestured offhandedly, "That's just Akane in her daily battle against the guys."

"What? Why are they fightin' her for?" Ranma asked as he analyzed the fight before him.

"A guy named Kuno said that anyone that wanted to date Akane would have to beat her in a fight first," Ukyo replied with disgust.

Ranma blinked several times. "Why would anyone want to date her with that kind of personality?"

"Akane isn't all that bad..."

"…when you're not male," Ranma finished with venom as he gingerly rubbed the bump on the back of his head from last night's encounter with said girl.

Ukyo hesitated for a second before nodding. She had to agree that Akane could be very brutal to guys, no matter how nice they were. 'Of course, that means if she is Ran-chan's supposed fiancée then I'll have no competition.' An immediate rosy hue developed on Ukyo's cheeks. 'When did I start to think of Ranma like that?'

Ranma was still focusing on the one-girl hurricane wading head-on into the clueless crowd of boys. "She isn't all that good, is she?" he asked as he finished his assessment.

Ukyo only shrugged. She felt that Akane was okay, though not in Ukyo's league. From what she had seen that morning of Ranma's skill, Akane was well beneath his level too. Of course, if that were true she didn't see how Akane could have hit Ranma with that table the night before.

By this time, Akane had massacred all the boys and was facing off against a long winded boy a year or two older than Ranma that wore an old fashion blue-gray kimono with a bokken held before him.

"…rising star of the Furinkan kendo team. The Blue Thunder shall defeat you this day!" the boy finished, as he pointed his bokken up to the sky where lightning dashed down as if on cue.

"What's up with this guy?" Ranma asked Ukyo while raising one eyebrow.

"That would be the guy I was telling you about."

"Oh, do you think we should help her or somethin'?"

"No, she would just get angry. She doesn't like it when someone interferes with her fights."

"That makes sense," Ranma said, casually back flipping off the wall to land lightly on the grass and proceeding to walk by the mangled forms of Akane's would-be wooers.

* * *

As the bell rang for school to let out, students spilled out of the doorway in search of the freedom denied them all day. Among the throng of students, Ranma came up behind Ukyo and lightly tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey Ukyo, I really should see what trouble Pops is getting into at the Tendo's."

Ukyo frowned. It had been really nice to have Ranma's attention all to herself. 'It was just too good to last,' she thought before spreading a bright smile. "Sure, but you'd better catch up with Akane unless you know the way to the Tendou dojo from here," she mentioned, pointing near the front gate where Akane waved goodbye to three of her friends.

"Shoot, I'll see you later," Ranma said, effortlessly hopping over the students' heads and landing next to Akane in only two bounds.

The sudden appearance startled Akane, who threw a punch at the pervert that would try to sneak up on her. Ranma yawned as he brought up his hand to catch it without effort. "Jeez, you greet everyone like this? And I thought you were only pretending to be such an uncute tomboy."

"GRRR!!! What do you want, you stupid perverted idiot?"

"Whoa, calm down there, Godzilla. I ain't angling for a fight just yet." Ranma's response only further infuriated the already steaming female. She quickly brought her left arm around, swinging her school bag for a quick knock to the idiot's head. Unfortunately for her, the strike was strong, but very predictable, making it and each after easy to avoid. This allowed Ranma to casually follow her all the way home.

* * *

As they entered the front living room of the Tendou household, Ranma finally began to tire of the endless swipes taken at his head.

"You know, you can stop now," Ranma informed Akane sourly.

Akane, who's logical thinking stopped somewhere just past the word Godzilla, did not take any notice of what Ranma was saying.

Seeing that Akane wasn't going to stop attacking him, Ranma decided to put a stop to it himself. On her next pass, Ranma lightly chopped a pressure point on Akane's wrist forcing her to let go of her bag. He then twisted around, taking ahold of her wrist and flipped her onto the couch, right next to her bag. To say that Akane was surprised by the sudden shift would be an understatement. Luckily, for Ranma, she was too surprised to become angry immediately.

"Thank you," Ranma said when he noted his tactic had worked in temporarily displacing her anger. "Now let me make this perfectly clear, I don't care what my Pop says, I'm not marrying you. I'm only sticking around here long enough to convince Pops that all of this is stupid." With that, Ranma left to take a bath.

Moments after Ranma's impromptu speech, Akane got over her surprise and her temper flared dramatically. "YOU STUPID PERVERT, I DON'T WANT ANY OF THIS EITHER!" Fortunately, Ranma was already up the stairs and in the bath, one of few places that Akane wouldn't attack him.

Once undressed, Ranma sat down and splashed himself with cold water. This ritual cold splash before getting into the warm bath was annoying, but necessary. He was really looking forward to the nice warm bath soon to come, but for some reason he felt like just sitting there. Maybe it was the warm contented feeling that seemed to rise when the cold water hit him. He kind of liked it.

Back downstairs, unbeknownst to either Akane or Ranma, Soun and Genma watched the exchange between the two while playing a game of shogi(1).

"Things are not going well," Soun commented absently as he pushed a pawn forward.

"True, Ukyo does seem to be causing problems. We may have to resort to desperate measures if things do not change soon," Genma replied heavily as he took Soun's offending piece with his rook.

"What do you plan to do?" Soun asked as he brought a knight to the front.

"For now, I'll try to keep Ranma away from her; I'm hoping that after Akane and Ranma get to know each other, their love will grow. With Ukyo here things could become difficult, especially with Akane's recent behavior."

"Do you think I should reprimand her?"

"It wouldn't do any good. To curb this would take much more effort then a simple reprimand." A small hint of dark determination flashed across Genma's eyes only to disappear as a female Ranma walked down the stairs, heading towards the kitchen.

"Didn't Ranma just take a bath?" Soun asked as he frowned at Ranma while watching him exit the living room.

"Yes, there shouldn't have been any cold water along the way. I wonder what he's up to."

"Hello, Ranma. How was school today?" Kasumi asked Ranma as he walked into the kitchen.

Ranma blinked; someone had actually asked how his day went.

"It wasn't all that bad I guess. Akane's little problem with the local boy population is kinda weird though," Ranma commented as he looked in the refrigerator for something to snack on.

"That's nice. Don't eat too much; dinner should be ready soon."

"Sure thing, Kasumi," Ranma replied as he walked out with a clear container that had a little pink pig sticker on top.

Ranma walked into the front living room opening the container while sitting down in a chair. Just as he sat, Akane returned downstairs after changing out of her school uniform, distracting Ranma as he dipped his chopsticks and randomly pulled a bite of food out, putting it into his mouth.

Both Ranma and Akane stared at each other for very different reasons. Akane was stunned that Ranma was eating the food she made yesterday. Ranma, on the other hand, couldn't turn his head with the disgusting taste permeating his mouth.

"Ahhhhh!" Ranma yelled, throwing the container on the floor as he rushed to the nearest bathroom.

Anger boiled off Akane in visible waves of crimson. 'How dare that… that BOY throw the food I made so carefully!?' "Why you, IDIOT!" Akane screamed.

* * *

"If it was toxic, she should have told me, not hit me over the head," Ranma mumbled as he walked aimlessly about town. "Someone should have warned me that the tomboy couldn't cook a damn thing," Ranma said angrily as he kicked a rock out of his way. It was only then that he heard the sounds of combat coming from nearby.

* * *

Ukyo bade farewell to the only customer that inhabited the store. It had been far too quiet for her liking lately, with customers coming in less and less frequently. She wished that she knew why.

Just as she was about to clean the counter, Ukyo heard the door opened.

"Hello, welcome to…" Ukyo didn't manage to complete her greeting, for as she turned around she found Shampoo in the doorway with a large smile on her face.

"Hello, spatula girl. Shampoo come to challenge you to fight."

"Is this about Ranma again?" Ukyo asked suspiciously.

Shampoo frowned briefly. "This for honor," she stated with a serious expression.

Ukyo was never a person to allow a challenge go unanswered. "Fine then, let's go," Ukyo replied, quickly following Shampoo out the door.

Each stepped out into the middle of the street and turned to face the other. Unconcerned about the public's drastic rise in unease, Shampoo simply gave a wide smile of anticipation as she slowly drew a long sword from her back.

Following Shampoo's lead, Ukyo took off her spatula, setting it into a guard position. 'I won't be taken by surprise like last night,' she thought to herself.

Seeing the drawn and very deadly weapons all the other people on the street vanished from the scene as fast as they could.

Once they had the street to themselves, Shampoo casually walked to Ukyo and sloppily thrust her sword out at her. Ukyo easily blocked with her spatula immediately thanking Shampoo for her effort with a vicious kick aimed at her face.

The only problem was that Shampoo was no longer in front of Ukyo. Instead she was several meters to Ukyo's left just landing from a hasty jump.

Ukyo was a little surprised that instead of fear at her great prowess, Shampoo's smile only broadened. Shampoo didn't stay idle long before she dashed at Ukyo once more. The sweep with her sword, unlike the last time, was filled with skill and finesse equal to that of a master.

Ukyo barely managed to jump over the blade and block the upward strike that came directly after it. 'What the hell is going on here? Just a moment ago she could barely hold a sword and now she's an expert?' Ukyo thought all of this in rapid succession as she landed near the entrance to Ucchan's.

"You pretty good, spatula girl. Don't need as much work as Shampoo think." With that, Shampoo appeared to blur from sight. In slow motion, Ukyo saw Shampoo's frenzied approach. She tried to get her spatula up to meet the strike, but Shampoo was going far too fast. The sword arced towards her neck and…

"Stop!" The scream came from above as Ranma leapt down to stop Shampoo, but he was too late. Shampoo jumped to the top of the far building as he came down where she once was.

"Damn you Shampoo! How could you kill an innocent?!" Ranma shouted after her.

Shampoo simply turned and looked down at him only to shrug before looking past him. "Spatula girl worthy, Shampoo come back and play tomorrow, yes?" She turned and bounded away into the distance.

"That really hurt." Ranma turned around with lightning speed to find Ukyo gingerly rubbing her neck.

"Ukyo! You're alright!" Ranma grabbed Ukyo into a fierce hug, instantly shocking the pain out of Ukyo's mind.

"Uh, Ranma?" Ukyo's unasked question brought the situation back to his awareness. Raman immediately let go, standing several feet away while hiding a nervous blush.

"Um, yeah, I'm glad you're all right. What was that all about?"

"I'm not sure, honey. She definitely hit me hard though," Ukyo stated while rubbing her neck again to work out some of the pain that flared back to life, "but I'm still alive…"

"I wonder why she hit you with the reverse side of the blade," Ranma asked, confused about the situation.

"She what?" Ukyo asked, equally confused.

"Yeah, I saw that sword she was using and if she used the sharp end you wouldn't be in one piece at the moment. That means that she had to have switched to the other side before striking."

"But why would she…"

"Ranma! What are you doing here again, boy? You should be back at the dojo helping Akane train." Ranma and Ukyo looked up onto the roof of Ucchan's where Genma was glaring down at the two.

"What the heck do you think you are doing, Pops?" Ranma yelled as he jumped up to get at the old man. Genma simply leapt out of the way of Ranma's fist, landing onto the next house where Ranma followed.

Ukyo could only shrug in frustration before going back into her shop.

* * *

The next day Ukyo blearily glanced around her once bustling restaurant, trying hard not to yawn. 'Since last week, there's been no one around,' she thought to herself. With even her regular customers recently disappearing on her, Ukyo had become very bored. 'At least having Ranma around has been nice,' she thought, which drew a slight smile.

Ukyo tilted her head as she heard what sounded like a large group of people passing by. With no customers around, Ukyo decided to see what was happening.

When she poked her head outside, Ukyo found something very disturbing. A large cart, nearly five times the size of her own, rolled slowly to a stop just outside of her restaurant with twenty people surrounding it. She saw a man in a spotless white cooking uniform whose hands were a blur over the grill, making various orders for the crowd as fast as they were called.

Ukyo then noticed that several of those people were her regular customers. She also realized just what the person was making: crepes.

"Who the hell do you think you are cooking right outside my restaurant?" Ukyo demanded of the meticulously dressed chief, who spared her only a glance as he finished his last order before turning towards her. The word had obviously spread about the previous day's battle because everyone around made themselves very scarce.

"Hummm…" The chief said as he looked the young woman up and down. "…you must be the great Ukyo Kuonji that I have heard so much about recently."

"Yeah, that's me alright, but you still haven't told me who you are."

"Why, I am the Crepe King."

"So why are you stealing my business?"

"Stealing?" The Crepe King frowned at the harsh insinuation, but an idea quickly formed in his mind. "Actually, I'm helping you, can't you see?" he finished smoothly.

"How does taking my business help me?"

"By making your quaint little shop a part of my new chain of restaurants that makes Wondrous Crepes, of course."

"I would never do such a thing. I challenge you."

"Challenge me?" He smiled; he had the young women right where he wanted her. "Why would I accept such a challenge? There is nothing in it for me; unless… you wanted to up the stakes a little?"

"What kind of stakes are you talking about?"

"If you lose, you give your shop to me to become apart of my new chain of crepe restaurants."

"And if I win?" Ukyo asked, not liking the sound of this.

"Well, then I'll turn over my cart to you to become an okonomiyaki stand."

Ukyo didn't like the odds. She was sure she would win, but if she lost…

The Crepe King could see the hesitance so decided to give one final push. "If you like, you can even stay on in my new store."

That did it. "I'd never make crepes; it is beneath my Art." Ukyo shouted, incensed by the insinuation.

"Well then, you should be able defeat my inferior Art easily, no?" He questioned with a smile badly hidden behind his hand.

"Sure thing! I'll defeat you, no problem!" Red hot anger flashed in Ukyo's eyes.

"Fine," he said, his smile becoming wicked.

Slowly, the Crepe King walked around his stand, stopping a few feet in front of Ukyo. For several intense moments, each analyzed the other. On an unannounced signal, both jumped forward, Ukyo whipping out her battle spatula and taking a quick swipe at the Crepe King's midriff.

The Crepe King lazily avoided the swing by pulling his legs up, stepping off the spatula, onto Ukyo's head, and then lightly stopping on the other side of the street.

"Come now, you must be capable of so much more than this."

The fire in Ukyo's eyes doubled as she blindly charged forward swinging her spatula wildly. Her opponent's body seemed to blur from view, making her swing go through empty air.

From her left, a swift kick struck Ukyo in the stomach, roughly throwing her into a wall on the opposite side of the street.

"I'm still waiting for your illustrious skills to make themselves known," he taunted..

With a grunt of effort Ukyo stood up to face her opponent with as much dignity as she could muster while stooped over from the severe pain radiating from her stomach.

"That's it! FLOUR BOMB!" Ukyo screamed after a few hard coughs. Reaching into her vest, she pulled out a brown packet and threw it at the Crepe King's feet where it exploded. Smoke billowed out obscuring everything, sharp explosions coming from all around them.

"I thought you were better than this, but I guess I was wrong. You have a long way to go before you can match me in skill, cooking or otherwise. Ultimate attack, DEATH CREPE!" With the name of his attack ringing in her ears, Ukyo frantically glanced around, trying to find were the attack was coming from. Various shadows would appear only to disappear in the haze that her flour bomb created. 'Where is he?'

Suddenly, a slab of batter came from behind, heading straight at Ukyo's back.

"NOOO!!" Ukyo heard the cry before she was slammed from the right, sending her flying away from the deadly dough. As she flew through the air, time seemed to slow to a crawl. She saw the dough she hadn't noticed before come hurtling at Shampoo, who had just jumped to shove her out of the way.

Through her own experience, Ukyo knew ultimate attacks meant trouble. Unfortunately, Ukyo's assessment was all too correct. Shampoo's momentum combined with the dough's to fling the girl violently against the far building. At first, the dough did nothing, but soon an eerie glow grew to a brilliant blood red before exploding. The explosion caused the side of the wall facing it to crumble, falling directly onto Shampoo's prone form.

"Shampoo!" Ukyo yelled, rushing to the debris, and beginning to desperately dig through the bricks.

"Si…r." The small whimper was all that alerted Ukyo that she was getting close. After letting a final large slab drop to the side, Ukyo found the person who had just saved her life.

Shampoo was literally covered in cuts and bruises, a small stream of blood slowly spreading from under the rock pile.

"Shampoo!" Ukyo exclaimed as she saw the broken form before her.

'Why did she do it?' Ukyo asked herself as she watched Shampoo grow more limp by the moment. She would have called an ambulance, but somehow she knew that it was already too late.

While she was stooped over Shampoo's body, Ukyo heard several soft footsteps come to a stop just behind her.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," the Crepe King said as he looked down at the scene before him. "But I did win all the same," He finished before turning away from Ukyo.

Ukyo may have never known the girl before her, but she wanted to avenge her death. She wanted to hurt the Crepe King so badly. She tried to stand, to take him down for someone who sacrificed their life for hers, but her feet wouldn't respond, they wouldn't stand no matter how hard she tried to force them. 'I… can't move.' Ukyo thought with despair. 'Why can't I move!?'

With the last of her energy, Ukyo collapsed beside the still body of Shampoo.

Several minutes passed before Ukyo realized that there was another presence just behind her.

When she looked back, she didn't find feet as she expected. Instead, she found a stick standing perfectly upright. Bringing her eyes up, she found the small old woman from the night Shampoo had tried to attack Ranma, staring at the sight before her with a guarded expression.

"I…I…there was nothing I could do. I'm so sorry, I tried to get to her in time, but I just wasn't fast enough."

Ukyo stopped speaking as that intense gaze shifted from the rubble to her. Her eyes widened at the immense anger and sadness that flashed across them. As those eyes focused on Ukyo, they slowly became lighter, hiding the emotions behind a well-placed mask.

"Child, I know you had nothing to do with this. Are you all right?"

Confused that the old woman, who was apparently Shampoo's great-grandmother, didn't appear to hold the other girl's death against her, Ukyo didn't immediately respond. After a short time, the old woman slid down her staff, letting it drop haphazardly at her side, before walking over to Ukyo, giving her a small embrace.

"It is all right, just let it out." Ukyo tried to hold back the grief that struck her, but the floodgates soon opened wide, allowing tears of frustration, guilt, and despair to run freely.

"I tried so hard, but he was so fast and I couldn't keep up, then he threw that Death Crepe and Shampoo knocked me out of the way and then… and then…" Ukyo just couldn't continue. In less than an hour her great shop that had been her life for the past three years, was gone. Already the front of her shop held a new sign, 'Crepe King's Fantastical Crepes coming soon to this location.' 'What am I to do now?' Ukyo thought in despair.

The old woman noticed the direction Ukyo's eyes took before they quickly teared up further. "Do you have any place to go now?" the Amazon asked with sincere interest. 'Cologne,' Ukyo recalled, 'that was what Shampoo had called the old woman.'

"…No, all of my stuff, my whole life was in that shop and now… it's all gone. There's nothing left for me," Ukyo said, starting to feel despair overtake her.

For several moments the two sat there, the youth contemplating a life lost, while the elder contemplated the other.

"Why don't you come with me, dear?"

Startled from the spiral her dark thoughts were taking, Ukyo looked at Cologne as if seeing her for the first time. "Why would you do something like that for me?"

For several minutes Cologne looked Ukyo in the eye, considering her next words very carefully. "I have just lost my great-grandchild to the whims of fate. It would be nice to have someone there while I mourn the loss."

"But…"

"No buts. Are your parents close enough for you to stay with them?" Cologne asked cautiously.

Ukyo looked down, her sorrow becoming greater at the thought of her parents. "My mother died during my birth and my father… he died in an accident several years ago."

"I'm sorry, that must be a very sensitive subject for you. You must realize, however, that you have nowhere else to turn. If you are willing, I could even adopt you into the Amazon tribe." Ukyo looked up sharply.

"Why…?"

"The reason I came here, following Shampoo in her attempt to avenge her honor, was to make sure that she survived. She was my last recognized heir to take my place as tribal leader. By Amazon custom, if an Amazon warrior gives their life for an outsider then that person is worthy of becoming an Amazon." Cologne answered, her eyes not quite meeting Ukyo's.

Though it struck Ukyo as odd, this was obviously a great honor. At first, Ukyo was hesitant to accept, but she soon realized that with her restaurant now gone, her hopes and dreams had been shattered as well. Perhaps it was time to take up a new dream. Standing up on weak knees, Ukyo bowed to Cologne.

"I gladly accept this honor."

"Now, would you help this old woman honorably bury a fallen warrior?" Cologne asked as she took to her stick once more.

"Of course! But… shouldn't we call the police?"

"No, this is a matter of Amazon honor that will be settled by Amazons not outsiders."

"What do you mean?"

"You will avenge her death."

"Me? But I couldn't even touch him. How could I be able to defeat him?"

"I shall train you, child. We begin tomorrow."

End chapter 2

Post Author's Notes: What the hell is going on here you ask? Ukyo was always a match for Shampoo in the anime and now she is defeated by her easily? Yes, but there is a slight difference in the time stream within this fiction. After Ukyo's father died, she created her own okonomiyaki shop. That means three years of her life that were once spent in hard training to gain revenge on Ranma were instead spent on maintaining her shop. That also means she is not nearly as good as she was during the anime. As the ending of this chapter indicated, this will most definitely not hold true throughout the whole of this fic.

I'm very sorry about the long delay. Much of it was entirely my own fault. An additional aspect is due to my pre-readers raising some very valid points to help make the story make more sense. As such, I've spent quite a bit of time adding several additional scenes that will hopefully make the story both more understandable and more enjoyable.

To answer some of the reviews, Cologne knew that Ranma was cursed because she was the person that Ranma and Ukyo didn't notice spying on them when Ranma changed to female so that he could stay at Ukyo's. As to why Cologne protected Ukyo, in the words of a character from Slayers, 'That… is a secret,' At least for a few more chapters though I'm sure many will be able to guess as I'm trying to leave hints as I go.

As with all fanfiction writing, reviews are the lifeblood of both motivation and to making a better overall story. If at all possible, please keep reviews to the realm of constructive criticism and/or encouragement.

Thank you very much,

brindani

(1) I'll admit it, I'm most definitely not knowledgeable about Shogi and won't pretend to be so. From what research I've done on the matter many places use the chess equivalent names for the pieces. I've found the Shogi names, but they didn't make much sense to me while I was writing so I took them out. For any that are interested the pieces I used equivalents are listed below.

rook hisha

pawn fuhyou

knight keima


	3. A curse revealed

Authors notes: My gosh has it been a long time since the last update. I can only blame a severe lack of motivation on my part. Anyway, I'd like to proffer a large thank you to Fiery Ferret for looking over the story and catching a whole mess of errors.

Disclamer: I don't own Ranma ½ or any of the characters therein.

**Chaining of a Curse**

By: brindani

**Chapter 3**

Ukyo sighed, her figure slumped while her hands propped her head up to drearily watch the raindrops patter lightly against the sidewalk outside. Her eyes periodically shifted dully to the plain wooden table she had been sitting at for the past several hours.

'Why did all this have to happen? Why did I accept that stupid challenge? Why couldn't I leave it alone? Why…' Closing her eyes tightly, Ukyo tried to drive the incessant questions away.

Unknown to Ukyo, Cologne casually stood in the doorway with a small frown. As expected, she found the girl barely restraining tears. Resolving herself, the old woman jumped onto her staff and made her way over to the table.

"What's on your mind, dear?" Cologne asked, after giving up on the girl noticing her presence.

Ukyo's snapped her eyes open and drew a sharp breath as her head whipped around to face the elder Amazon matriarch.

"What! Oh… nothing… nothing… really," Ukyo mumbled, her tone lowering with each word. By the end, she turned her eyes away to avoid betraying her words further then the tremble in her voice already had.

"You're still blaming yourself for yesterday, aren't you?" Cologne asked.

Taking in a deep breath, Ukyo tightly squeezed her eyes together. "Yes, I lost control of my temper and… and everything is gone because of me… including Shampoo," Ukyo finished, several more tears making their way down her pale cheeks despite her attempts to wipe them away with her arm.

Cologne jumped off her staff onto the table. Her hand gently tilted the young woman's head up to meet her gaze. "Did you deliver that final attack?" Cologne's intense eyes captured Ukyo's own.

"No…"

"Did you push Shampoo into the attack?"

"No, but…"

"Then you are not guilty. The person responsible is there…" without wavering, Cologne's withered hand stretched to point unerringly towards Ukyo's old shop. Cologne lowered her voice as she continued. "…and I shall help you take revenge against him."

"You're right. Thank you Cologne," Ukyo said, brushing her arm across her face to wipe away the final trail of tears.

"Just call me Granny, child. It would make this old woman's heart feel much lighter in these dark times."

"Sure, Granny," Ukyo replied giving a little smile which Cologne returned.

Abruptly, Cologne's face took up a mischievous smile. "Now, what about this Ranma character? What are your feelings for him?"

"Well… he… um," Ukyo stuttered, not expecting this change of topic. She wasn't exactly sure how she felt about the pigtailed martial artist. When she first saw him, she wanted to carve him into small pieces and leave him for all the other rats out there, but now… she just wasn't sure. The intense relief she felt after learning that the dirty old panda was the one responsible for leaving her in tears along the side of the road and not Ranma had to mean something, but what?

"I see… you like the boy," Ukyo's attempt to hide her face only forced a small cackle from Cologne. "Ha, ha, ha! Don't worry young one, I won't embarrass you anymore... for the moment, anyway. Now, before we start your training, you need to get going before you're late."

"Huh?" Ukyo asked. The old woman seemed to keep her off balance with all these unexpected change of topics.

"To your old shop, of course."

"But why? We haven't done any training yet."

"Trust me child. The fresh air will do you good before we begin."

Ukyo still didn't understand, but stood up anyway trusting in the older woman's advice.

* * *

'Boy is it dreary today,' Ranma thought while walking casually along the fence as a light cascade of chilled rain drops landed softly around him. 'Why did Pops bring me here?' Ranma thought in frustration for the thousandth time that day, cursing his good for nothing father.

'On the other hand, it is kinda nice to have a place to stay and even have regular meals. It might even be alright except for one thing: Akane. Damn tomboy, turns her nose up whenever I walk into the same room.' Ranma shook his head, glowering at the mental image.

'The only good thing to happen recently was meetin' Ucchan again. At least she's willing to just accept me, curse an' all.' These thoughts kept circling around in his mind as they had since arriving in this new place. While he thought, Ranma's feet unconsciously carried his currently female body towards an old friend's okonomiyaki shop.

Several blocks further up the street, Ranma effortlessly flipped down from the fence onto the pavement and continued to walk in deep thought and oblivious to his surroundings until he found that his feet had stopped of their own accord. Looking around, Ranma found that he was standing in front of Ucchan's. Though surprised to find himself there, the problem was that the _Ucchan's Okonomiyaki_ sign was missing, replaced by a bold new sign: _Crepe King's Fantastic Crepes, coming soon to this location_.

"What's goin' on here?" Ranma asked, bewildered by the unexpected change.

"Why, I'm opening a new restaurant here. I've been told that the location is perfect to start my chain of Crepe King's Fantastic Crepes," replied a smug voice from his left.

"Who are you? Where is Ukyo?" Ranma demanded, unconsciously shifting into an neutral stance, his fists facing a man wearing a chef's hat carrying a several pans, in one arm.

The chef put a free finger to his chin as if in deep thought for a moment before his mouth split into a wide grin. "Oh, you must mean the previous owner of this establishment. She accepted my challenge and lost, so this…" he said happily while gesturing back to the restaurant, "…is all mine."

Ranma eyes widened as he franticly scanned the area, and quickly locked onto the crumbled building across the street.

"What did you do to her?" Ranma demanded, his head slowly turned back to the chef, his gaze lashing out with a vengeful glare.

"I didn't do anything to the poor girl," the cook replied, casually glancing at what had attracted the apparent redhead's attention. "Someone took my masterful final attack for her, too bad for them."

"Who?" Ranma asked, unconsciously releasing the breath he had held. His muscles relaxed slightly, relieved that at least Ukyo was alright, but still curious as to who had taken the blow for her.

"Oh let me think… I believe I overheard the old shriveled woman calling her Shampoo, a very odd name don't you think?" The Crape King said, shrugging his shoulders as if it really didn't matter to him.

"Shampoo? What happened to her?" 'Why would Shampoo take a blow for Ukyo? Didn't she threaten Ukyo's life a couple of days ago?'

"Unfortunately the girl didn't make it." There was a hint of regret flavoring the cook's voice, it remained well hidden.

"What?" Ranma exclaimed, coming out of his reverie and straight into an aggressive stance. He didn't have any love for Shampoo, but a true martial artist never _ever_ killed. The person before him had just proclaimed himself a murderer.

Seeing the palpable red corona suddenly surround the petite young woman, the Crepe King allowed his utensils to fall forgotten to the side while dropping into a defensive stance. The silence lasted only a moment before Ranma bounded high into the air, his foot aimed straight at the crepe-making chef.

The Crepe King scoffed before making his own leap. He almost chuckled to himself at the irony. He would step off the whelp's head just as he had with that Ukyo girl. The sneer didn't last long as the leg he led with was sharply jerked from beneath him. The Crepe King suddenly found himself plowing straight into the ground.

Landing heavily, his hand taking the brunt of the impact, the Crepe King managed a desperate roll to the left, barely missing a blow to his back from an incoming axe kick. After two more rolls, the chef did a handspring back to his feet. He found his hard won reprieve cut short as a flurry of jabs made sort work of his already battered defenses.

'Damn, without my cooking equipment, I can't keep up with this girl,' he thought, quickly diving out of the way of another side kick to his head.

'He's good,' Ranma thought as he watched his opponent who, despite being disoriented, attempted to counter his punch with a front kick to his stomach. 'But I'm better.' Ranma finished by twisting to the side of the kick before dropping low, easily sweeping the legs out from under his opponent. Continuing to spin around, Ranma tensed to pounce, only stopping when a small spatula thudded into the ground in between the two battling opponents.

"Ran-chan!" Ranma looked around, startled to find Ukyo in her casual garb running down the road towards him. She stopped mere inches from his face, giving him a defiant glare "He. Is. Mine." Ukyo finished pulling back several feet.

Ranma was a little disconcerted by the piercing gaze. "But he killed, Ukyo." Ranma stopped for a moment before continuing. "What's goin' on? I come here ta' find rubble all over the place and some sign made by this demented guy sayin' he took your shop." Ranma pointed back towards the old Ucchan's only to find that the man had disappeared. "Damn, he got away."

"It's true, he beat me yesterday with my shop at stake," Ukyo said, her face quickly shifting from anger to depression.

Ranma noticed Ukyo's eyes, usually lit with determination, dull before turning away. He wouldn't stand for this. "Don't worry Ucchan, I'll get him for you." Ranma said, popping his knuckles absently.

"No!" Once again, Ranma found Ukyo's face directly in front of his. "I will defeat him," Ukyo said standing straight, her voice simmering with resolve.

Hesitantly, Ranma nodded his head. If he knew anything, he knew honor. He could see that Ukyo's honor was on the line, but… the image of her lying below what remained of the totaled building across the street stayed frozen in his mind.

"We better get you changed back to a guy." Ukyo said as she noticed the rain begin to peter out.

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. Even when he did change back, he was always splashed soon afterwards. Besides, this form seemed more comfortable recently.

"Sure, whatever."

"Ok, let's get going, Sugar," Ukyo said, taking his hand in hers while walking back the way she came. By the end of the street she hastily let go of Ranma's hand, a rosy hue rushing across her cheeks, leaving Ranma to trail behind her.

* * *

Ukyo stopped in front of the Cat Café, lightly knocking on the door.

"Come in child."

"Yes, granny," Ukyo replied, confusing Ranma.

"Granny?" he asked, turning his puzzled gaze to Ukyo.

"Yes, that's what she wants me to call her ever since she's adopted me into the Amazon tribe." Seeing Ranma's eyebrows lower in further confusion, she continued. "I'll explain everything later, okay?"

"Okay," He hesitantly replied, letting the matter drop for now.

Moments later, they walked into the back kitchen, nearly running into a kettle dangling before Ranma on the end of a stick.

"How did you know I would need that?" Ranma asked now really confused.

"Call it a lucky guess if you like," Cologne replied with a hint of humor.

Shrugging his shoulders, he took the offered kettle and poured the contents over himself. After several seconds, he was once again male.

"Now son-in-law, I wanted to set a date for the wed—."

"Granny! You said you wouldn't talk about that again!" Ukyo exclaimed, shooting a furious glare at the old woman.

Chuckling, Cologne turned around before continuing, "Yes, yes, I also mentioned that I wouldn't for _the moment_."

"Huh?" Ranma asked, rapidly becoming even more bewildered as to what was going on.

"Oh don't worry about it, it's nothing really." Ukyo tried to reassure him though she was blushing furiously by this point.

Ranma frowned, 'I'm hearing that an awful lot lately.'

"What is that in your hair, young one?" Cologne inquired of Ranma when she finally took a good look at him.

"What? Somethin' in my hair?" Ranma asked as he casually combed his hair with his fingers.

"There," Cologne stated as she hopped onto her cane and pointed to a small section of red hair intermixed with Ranma's black.

"Yeah, I see it too. What is it?" Ukyo asked as she took a closer look at Ranma's hair herself.

For a moment, Cologne stood on her staff pondering the situation.

"I had hoped this wouldn't happen," she muttered under her breath.

"What is that, old ghoul?" Ranma asked as he became agitated as everyone was keeping him in the dark recently. He almost expected the sudden whack from a staff, but the slap coming from the other direction took him totally by surprise.

"Don't you dare call her that Ranma! She took me in when I lost that duel. If it wasn't for her I would have had no where to go," Ukyo said, glaring at the pigtailed boy.

'She used Ranma instead of Ran-chan,' Ranma thought. He didn't know how, but that hurt more then the slap itself.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, alright?" Ranma asked as he backed away from the two, his hands out in a placating manner.

Cologne settled for a small glare before replying. "Now, if you will remember your manners for more then a moment, I'll actually tell you what I'm talking about. You probably don't know this, but a Jusenkyo curse runs much deeper then just a change of forms whenever cold water happens to touch victim. The spirit of what downs in those springs remains trapped in them. When someone falls in, a piece of that sprit attaches itself to the victim. This spirit bonds with the victim. How great the bond depends on the spirit and the person that it occupies. This doesn't usually amount to much, but in some extreme instances the two can start to merge into one with the cursed form becoming permanent.

"WHAT?" Ranma shouted at this nerve-racking piece of news.

Her stare becoming intense, Cologne hopped closer to Ranma's face. "Tell me I'm wrong… Have you become much more comfortable with your cursed form recently? Almost coming to the point where you don't have a preference as to which you are in?"

"No! of course not!" Ranma denied, but his suddenly pale face told another story.

Frowning, Cologne hopped back to the pot she was using to cook before continuing. "This is a problem. The fact that part of your body is not changing after being doused with hot water means that the process is has already started."

"How do we stop it?" Ranma asked in a small voice. Ukyo didn't like this development much either. Ranma permanently becoming a girl was unacceptable.

Cologne remained silent for moment which began to grate on her spectators' nerves. "There is no known way to stop its completion." She said quietly.

Ranma's eyes went up in horror at this. "No…"

"Now don't get depressed; I only said that there was no _known_ way. That doesn't mean that one doesn't exist. I have been known to create cures to things that were thought incurable before," She said sharply to break Ranma from his funk.

She appeared successful as Ranma did look at her with a simmer of hope hidden within his eyes.

"You can find a cure?"

"Perhaps, but you will have to do something for me in return." Ranma didn't like the way she said that. Ranma had quickly found that when people made deals he became part of the price. It may have happened once again if it weren't for the dirty look coming from behind his shoulder.

"What do you want ol… elder?" Ranma asked, just barely restraining himself from using the derisive name that fit the mummy so well.

Ignoring the youth's close slip, Cologne took a moment to ponder before she continued, "I will not be able to both find a cure while training Ukyo. I want you," Cologne punctuated her declaration by poking her stick into Ranma's chest, "to train Ukyo to defeat The Crepe King."

Ranma blinked in surprise; he didn't want Ucchan to get hurt, but if she went up against the Crepe King again without training… "Sure, I can handle that," Ranma said with enthusiasm, after all it was a much better deal then he had feared.

"In that case, you two may start immediately." Sensing what Cologne was trying to do, Ukyo frowned before blushing at the realization of what intense training would entail.

"Ok, granny, you got a deal," Ranma said, his typical cocky smile quickly fixing back in place.

**End Chapter 3**

Post author's notes: Again, sorry about the delay in getting this out. Chapter four shouldn't take nearly as long as a rough draft has already been created. The rest is up to motivation which typically hinges on reviews (hint hint) to show that others are interested in the story.

Thanks for reading,

brindani


	4. Training begins

Author's notes: Sorry about the delay. I've actually had this ready since a couple of days after the last submission. Unfortunately, college has kept my current pre-reader from taking a look at the story. I didn't want to keep people waiting too long so I have run through this draft a few more times to find as many of the problems as I could and am sending it as is. If anyone is interested in pre-reading just send me a message.

Disclaimer: I do hereby swear that I, brindani, have no ownership of Ranma ½ or any characters contained therein.

**Chaining of a Curse**

By: brindani

**Chapter 4**

After walking for ten minutes, the two teens found an ideal empty lot.

"Ranma, what exactly are we doing?" Ukyo asked with a wrinkled brow as she touched her head flush with her left leg.

"I'm trainin ya'," Ranma replied doing similarly with his right leg.

"What do you mean? All we're doing is stretching," Ukyo said before switching to her right leg.

"Exactly, you gotta be flexible to learn Anything Goes."

"It couldn't mean doing this much stretching, can it?"

"Sure it can. Anything Goes relies on speed and flexibility to hit yer opponent hard while avoidin' their attacks."

"I guess that makes sense, so how long does this part of the training last?" Ukyo asked, wanting to get on with what she was more familiar with as true training.

Instead of answering Ranma stood up, gesturing with one hand for Ukyo to do similarly.

As the spatula wielding girl absently brushed off some of the grass that stuck to her pants, Ranma's gaze swept over Ukyo's form speculatively.

"Can I see yer spatula for a sec?" Ranma asked once Ukyo's full attention returned to him so she would notice his hand pointing to the large kitchen utensil strapped to her back.

Ukyo shrugged her shoulders before unstrapping her spatula and handing it to Ranma.

Ranma hefted the weapon up, carefully examining it from the cloth wrapped handle to the large spatula face and back. With a small nod he hefted the weapon up like a katana though awkwardly due to the heavy head. With a flash, the blade lashed out in a large sweep nearly throwing him off balance with the extra weight.

Ukyo covered her face, trying to stifle a laugh that almost made it through.

Ranma frowned at the weapon for a moment as if it disrupted him deliberately. Bringing it back to the fore, his eyes focused in determination. Ranma burst into motion, swinging the weapon wide, twisting the weapon midway to come around for a double chop. In an instant he changed directions again using air resistance to help turn the heavy blade to twist above his head before slashing the invisible opponent in front of him.

Ukyo blinked as Ranma modified his style to further accommodate the extra weight and incorporated several kicks and later a few midair slices as well. With one final twirl Ranma spun the spatula around in mid-air, handing it back to Ukyo, handle first.

Ukyo was impressed; Ranma had achieved a limited mastery of a weapon in a couple of minutes that she had spent her whole life perfecting. She believed that she could take him if they were limited to the spatula as she could see plenty of holes in his impromptu style, but still…

"That's an interestin' weapon you got there. Could be useful, but it's way too heavy."

"Jackass, it's apart of my family's style. It's as strong as steal, of course it's going to be heavy." Ranma only shrugged.

"Anyway, we better get started. First I want to see just how good you are; attack me," Ranma said, spreading his feet apart, and allowing his arms to hang loose at his sides.

"Are you sure, Ran-chan? I don't want to hurt you."

"Don't worry, you can't," Ranma said, his cocky grin making a quick appearance.

"If you say so," Ukyo said, slightly irritated that he didn't take her seriously. Slowly she took off her spatula and held it with one hand on the base and the other slightly above. Ranma simple nodded his head before raising his hand in a 'come get me if you can' gesture.

Ukyo smiled before dashing forward, hoping to catch Ranma off guard with a quick sweep aimed low at his legs. Ranma simply jumped several inches into the air, just barely enough for her spatula to pass harmlessly below him.

Surprised, Ukyo maintained her attack with a calculated barrage of strikes; left, right, forward, each meant to herd the boy into a corner where the pigtailed martial artist would be unable to escape. His back was about to hit the fence, Ukyo raised her spatula for her finishing strike only to find Ranma duck into a roll, straight between her legs.

This was only one of many times that Ukyo's standard tactics failed her and after several minutes, she had become rather frustrated. It was during one of these frustrating moments that Ranma lashed out with an open palm, striking Ukyo's wrist. The spatula that hand supported flew away from Ukyo, hitting the dirt hard, slowly vibrating to a stop.

"Now let's see how you do with unarmed combat," Ranma stated when Ukyo threw a questioning glance at him.

Shrugging she set her feet apart and positioned her fists in front, preparing to attack.

From her perspective Ranma's casual stance supported no defense. Ukyo knew this was deceptive from her previous encounter and decided to play it cautious. First she tried a front punch with her right arm keeping the left back to guard against retaliation.

As before, Ranma simply danced to the right of her attack, stepping into easy range of her back, stopping short of an actual hit to her unprotected side.

Ukyo turned around and tried to fake another punch before ducking for a leg sweep. Anticipating Ranma's jump, Ukyo pivoted with her arm to bring her other leg up to hit his feet out from under him. Ranma simply brought his feet up further, bouncing off of her outstretched leg, somersaulting to land behind her once again.

Turning slowly, Ukyo found Ranma standing behind her with a smirk plastered on his face. Through her agitation, she didn't notice the calculating eyes that critically analyzed her every move. 'What is the Jackass doing? How could he possible gauge my skill if he never fights back?' Ukyo thought to herself.

Pulling her fist back, Ukyo ran towards Ranma fully intending to land a hard blow to the head. Seconds before the strike landed, Ranma raised his palm up.

"Enough."

"What?" Ukyo asked, flaying her arms out as she staggered to a stop.

"Like I said, that's enough. I've figured yur current level. You're really strong; you gotta be to wield that thing…" Ranma gestured towards the large spatula still stuck in the ground, "…which means yur punches are strong, but slow and predictable. You're also pretty good at figuring out what your opponent's gonna do. We should start ya with some endurance, balance and speed."

Ukyo blinked, 'Ranma just said something intelligent.'

"So, let's begin with something you're familiar with," Ranma said, gesturing towards the fence surrounding the lot that they were currently in.

'Not this again.' Ukyo remembered this from before. Her sulky face soon resolved as she recalled exactly why she was here in the first place. 'I will have my vengeance.'

Ranma then hoped on-top of the fence, waiting patently for Ukyo to follow. Quickly retrieving her spatula, Ukyo jumped up next to Ranma, managing to only wobble slightly before catching her balance. When Ukyo settled, Ranma started walking backwards, careful to keep an eye on Ukyo as she progressed.

* * *

Ukyo suppressed a groan as she rubbed her aching arm and leg muscles. Ranma had said that she needed to work on her balance, endurance and speed. Who would have thought he meant at the same time? She didn't even know it was possible to run along a fence; at least until Ranma had done so backwards while keeping pace with her. She still had no idea how he made those sharp turns that he shouldn't have been able to see coming; she had run off the top a couple of times before learning to lean in a little further to round the corner.

Now if only that had been the end of it, but of course it wasn't. Once her feet were too tired to run, Ranma had her walk along the fence with only her hands. She was glad she had a belt on that day or there may have been problems with that last exercise.

As it was, every muscle in her body felt as if it were in flames.

"You alright, Ucchan?" Ranma asked, watching her body language as she tried to stretch out her soreness.

"I'll... huff… be alright… puff… in a… huff… moment," Ukyo managed after several painful seconds. A loud grumbling echoed from the depths of her stomach.

"Hmmm, gettin' hungry? I'll take you out to eat."

Ukyo paused in her gasping, 'That was unexpected.'

* * *

Ukyo gawked at three large bowls full of white rice, a platter of sushi, two bowls of miso soup, four glasses of green tea, and a plate full of egg rolls. Gingerly looking up, Ukyo noticed the cuplike saucer that held about a mouth full of rice in front of Ranma.

"Where did you get the money for all this?" Ukyo asked amazed.

"Ahhh… Cologne slipped me some cash while we were leaving as well as a note," Ranma answered, handing Ukyo the slip of paper.

_Here is some money. I know that training has its costs and I want to make sure that Ukyo is trained with no expense spared. Come to me if you need more._

_Signed,_

_Cologne._

"I'll have to thank her when I get back," Ukyo mentioned before noticing several more dishes making its way over to the table.

"I couldn't possible eat all of this, Ranma," Ukyo said.

"Don't worry, I'm hungry."

"What do you mean? If you were hungry, you should have ordered more then just a little rice. For that matter, why did you order all this stuff for me?" Ukyo asked, indicating the food plus several bowls of udon placed before her.

"Because we are going to work on some speed training, of course."

"Speed training? I thought we were finished for the day."

"Oh no, make everything into training. That's part of the Anything Goes training style. At least the old panda was right about one thing."

"Even eating?"

"Yup"

"How can you eat and train at the same time?" Ukyo asked, her eyebrows drooping in confusion.

Ukyo did not like the devilish grin that came across Ranma's face.

"That's easy; all you have to do is defend your plate."

"You mean you are going to steal my food?" Ukyo asked incredulously.

"Oh don't take it like that. I ordered plenty, but if you can't keep up, I'll leave you some."

"So you think I can't keep up with you, huh?" Ukyo loved a challenge.

Recognizing the smile that spread across her face, Ranma brought out a cocky smirk of his own.

"Shall we?"

"Whenever you're ready," Ukyo said, bringing her chopsticks forward.

"Ok" Ranma said waiting; watching her chopsticks critically.

Seeing that Ranma wasn't going to make the first move, Ukyo shot her hand down, stabbing an egg roll, Ukyo brought the tidbit of food towards her mouth, started to close her teeth and … nothing. With a loud clank, Ukyo's teeth closed on the chopsticks.

"Wha… where?" Ukyo open her eyes to see where her morsel had disappeared, only to see Ranma rubbing his stomach in satisfaction.

"A little slow there, make sure to keep your eyes open to watch for any possible attack. Now try again," Ranma said, his chopsticks remaining loose, but ready.

"This time I'll win." Ranma only smirked.

Once more, Ukyo dove her chopsticks towards the rice, trying to reach it before Ranchan could react. This time she was careful to watch his chopsticks which remained stationary. She wouldn't let this fool her again as she brought the food towards her mouth she diverted at the last moment to avoid the eye blinding strike. Closing in, she brought the food to her mouth and tasted satisfaction letting herself savoir the victory that she had gotten a bite of food past him.

"Second lesson, watch your resources."

Confused, Ukyo looked down only to find that one complete bowl of rice was gone with only a singe grain left standing ostentatiously on it top.

"Boy! What are you doing with this girl! You should be with your proper fiancée," A gruff bark of a voice drew both Ranma and Ukyo's attention to the front of the restaurant where a wide girth outlined the doorway.

"Proper fiancée? What the hell do you mean, jackass? You already stole my dowry."

The large man strolled in, oblivious to the incredulous stares directed his way. When he reached the table, he quickly noticed all the food lying on the table in front of Ukyo and the little bowl of rice before Ranma. His eyebrows quickly drew together in anger.

"Are you teaching this _girl_ The Saotome Style of Anything Goes Martial Arts? This is outrageous. I shall not allow you to teach without being a master yourself," Genma finished; his head held high as if the matter was final.

"You idiot, pops. If I don't help Ucchan with her fight then I'll be stuck a girl permanently. Do you think I can 'join the schools' if I'm a girl?"

"What do you mean? As soon as you are splashed with hot water, you change back; same as me."

"Not no more. From what the old…" Ranma looks back briefly before stifling a shudder at the hardening glare directed at him, "…woman says, I'll be all girl if she don't find a cure. You understand that, you idiot?"

"Who is the stupid one, boy? She has obviously tricked you into believing this bunch of nonsense."

"Nonsense, huh?" Ukyo stated, standing up and taking Ranma's head in hand, turning it to the side. "See, there are thin patches of red hair even when he is a guy," Ukyo finished by pointing to a small section of hair with her index finger.

Roughly, Genma pulled Ranma towards him and tried to rip the red strands of hair out of his head.

"OOOOUCH! WHAT DID YA DO THAT FOR?" Ranma screamed before hitting the part time panda over the head.

On his stomach, Genma looked horrified at the pure red strands of hair intermixed with black that remained in his hands. "Oh god, it can't be true."

"If you had just listened ta me in the first place, I coulda told you it was true. Cologne is working on a cure right now. In exchange, I'm helpin' Ukyo get back at the chef guy that beat her. Course I'd of helped anyway, but that's 'sides the point."

Genma wasn't paying attention to his son as he closely scrutinized the girl. She looked awful flushed about the whole thing. That wasn't good, but like the boy said, if he was a permanent she then there was no joining of the schools. Things had gotten far too out of his control for his liking. He would have to implement some of the more drastic measures soon.

"Alright, boy, but don't get too attached to this… girl," Genma finished by gesturing to Ukyo.

"Whadya mean pops? We ain't done nothin' but train." Though the words rang true, Genma didn't like the small pink coloring on his son's face. He would have to work fast.

Genma turned without replying; running out of the restaurant and leaping to the roof tops, quickly sprinting in the direction of the Tendo dojo.

* * *

"I'm home, granny," Ukyo managed to mumble as she slid through the door to the still-in-development Cat Café.

"Oh, there you are; I've been wondering what you were up to," Cologne spoke as she hoped in from the back. "By the looks of it, Ranma did well for the first day. Let me guess, endurance, speed, balance, and just a little strength training?"

"How did you know?" Ukyo asked with a groan as she attempted to move her right arm around to get some feeling back into it.

"I've done some intense training in my time, child. I know what training causes what aches."

"For not having taught before, Ranma sure does seem to know what he is doing. I'm just glad he let me eat my fill after the speed training, only lightly taping my chopsticks or bowl to get the point across."

Cologne raised an eyebrow. "It appears that the boy has some unusual training methods, going so far as to train while eating, interesting."

"That maybe true, but I've never felt so sore in my life."

"It's all for the better, child. You will be ready when the time comes."

"True, how is the work on Ranchan's problem going?"

"Not as well as I would have hoped. I've at least found a tentative method to separate Ranma from the curse due to the circumstances, but it could cause even more problems later on."

"Oh, I hope it will work out," Ukyo mentioned dourly.

"You must really like the boy to be so concerned?" Cologne commented with a wizen little smirk crossing her face.

"Granny, you said you wouldn't embarrass me about that," Ukyo stated, momentarily loosing her gloom in favor of hiding her cheeks with her hands.

"No, you forget, I said I would stop for the time being. I never said I would stop for good." For several moments, Cologne cackled evilly. "Don't worry, child, he is, after all, a very handsome young man. If I were two hundred years younger, I would probably try for him myself." The far off look on Cologne's face convinced Ukyo she did **not** want to know what the older woman was thinking.

* * *

Ranma was happy for a change, he had his first student and she was progressing very well. Pride swelled within him as he hopped across various roof tops, heading back towards the Tendo dojo.

He hardly even noticed as he landed inside of the wooden fence. A small smile played over his lips as his legs led him towards the main entrance.

Once inside, Ranma's smile vanished from his face. He felt something was off. Glancing around, he quickly found what was missing. In one corner stood the go board were the two fathers had played constantly since their arrival, yet now only Soun sat in front of it; his glazed eyes looking directly through the board.

"Uh, hello? Where's Pops, Mr. Tendo?" Ranma asked, waving his hand in front of the other's face, trying to get his attention.

"What? Oh, Ranma, I've been waiting for you. Genma has taken Akane on a training trip to help prepare her for her future."

"Pops is trainin' Akane? What's he up to now?"

"Don't worry about Akane; she is a very independent girl."

"Independent, that's one word for her," Ranma muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?" Soun asked, his eyes took a dangerous glint as his eyebrows drew down.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Ranma said, waving his hands back and forth in a placating manner.

"Ok, you may stay here while they are gone," Soun's said, his face instantly morphing into a happy face.

"…uhhh thanks," Ranma said, still feeling something very wrong about the situation.

"Kasume, could you bring in a few snacks? Ranma must be hungry by now."

"Yes father," Kasume responded before entering with two trays of food, placing them lightly onto the table.

Ranma licked his lips as a nice plate of cut apple, miso soup, crackers, and several bowls of stir-fry settled in front of him.

'Soetome Rule number one: never pass up a free meal; you don't know where your next will come from,' Ranma thought instinctively before digging in, his worries lost in an eating frenzy.

* * *

Ukyo's sleeping form lay motionless on her futon, a small smile gracing her lips. Dreams flitting through her mind varying from her triumphant defeat of the Crepe King to a certain young pigtailed boy.

Her sleep was so deep that Ukyo didn't notice a shadow appear in front of her screen door. Noiselessly, the screen opened revealing an indistinct form that slide into the room, quickly melting into the shadows of the far wall. Slowly, it crept along the edge of the room. Twin clicks where heard and a rough sliding noise. Ukyo frowned slightly before turning on her opposite side, back to the inviting dreams of victory.

Several seconds later, the figure moved again. Gradually its dark form approached its helpless victim. Its feet settled just before the futon, hands inching forward until…

"AHHHHHHhhhh!" Ukyo's startled scream shattered the morning calm as she flew through the air roughly landing on something soft. Dazed, Ukyo sat up finding herself laying on a mattress. Glancing around, she found Ranma jumping out of her bedroom window.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR, YOU JACKASS!"

Ranma blinked, startled by Ukyo's reaction. "Pops always started with some morning training. What did ya think I was doin?"

"You threw me out of the WINDOW!"

"Sure I did. It's alertness training. It's suppose ta help keep you aware of yer surroundins."

"An unusual, though I must admit effective, method sonny boy. In the future, however, could you keep it down?" croaked a voice coming from Cologne in her night gown staring down at the two from Ukyo's window.

Both youths turned towards the older, Ranma absently tugging on his pigtail while blushing. "Uuuh, yeah, sorry 'bout that."

End Chapter 4

Post Author's Notes: I love reading everyone's reviews and it really helps me stay motivated to work on the story. I was a little intrigued that many want Ranma to stay as a girl permanently. Will this happen? You never know though I'm leaning against it.

I'd like to bring up a few points brought out by Campin' Carl. Shampoo caught Ranma off guard and half asleep, that was how she was able to get the upper hand in their brief fight.

Cologne knew of the curse as she was the one mentioned looking in through the window when Ranma changed into a girl so he could stay the night.

I really do appreciate Campin' Carl, and every one else brining up very valid points and I do plan on going back to address them in the future.

Thanks for reading,

brindani


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